Witness says she has tried to forget events

Velva Ivens Pardee says she has tried for 18 years to forget the night her boyfriend shot her estranged husband and killed a teacher.

"I spent so many years trying to forget this, Pardee testified Wednesday in the retrial of Bigler Jobe "Bud Stouffer II.

Stouffer, 60, was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1985 shooting death of Linda Reaves, 34, a Putnam City elementary school teacher.

He was also found guilty of shooting Doug Ivens, Pardee's estranged husband. Ivens survived after being shot Jan. 24, 1985, in the arm, abdomen and face at his home in the 4400 block of Dahoon Drive.

Reaves and Ivens were dating.

Stouffer, who has been on death row since July 1985, earned a retrial in 1999 after a U.S. district judge and an appellate court ruled his trial lawyers showed "a complete lack of skill and provided an inadequate defense.

Testimony is expected to continue today before Oklahoma County District Judge Jerry Bass.

Assistant District Attorneys Richard Wintory and Christy Reid said the motive for the shootings was a $2 million life insurance policy.

Defense Attorneys Gary James and Richard Anderson said Stouffer shot Ivens in self-defense and had nothing to do with Reaves' death.

Pardee, of Memphis, Tenn., said she listened Tuesday to the taped interview she gave then-Oklahoma City police Detective Bob Horn after the shootings. She said she made notes to help her with the dates and times as she testified.

"I'm nervous, she said. "I knew my last testimony, I was telling the truth.

Pardee testified Stouffer admitted he shot Ivens during telephone calls the defendant made to her from the jail after he was arrested at her home shortly after the shootings.

"He said, I saw Doug. I just saw red and we got into it,'" Pardee testified.

She said Stouffer first denied he had anything to do with the shootings, but later changed his story.

The defendant told her he always thought she might go back to her husband, she said.

Pardee testified Stouffer said he never told her he left Reaves for dead. At the first trial, Pardee testified the defendant said he left them for dead.

"That would have really changed things, Pardee said.

She said once she listened to the taped interview she realized her testimony at the first trial was accurate, erasing a fear that has haunted her since 1988.

Archive ID: 1130146